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Caitlin Carver

Mr. Fisher

Economics

20 September, 2023

POV: I’m Getting Kicked Out

The day is June 6th, 2024. I officially graduated from Great Oak High School. It feels as

though this day was never going to come but here we are. However, I noticed halfway through

the ceremony that my parents had not come. Right after graduation ended I rushed home thinking

something was wrong yet to find myself staring at all of my belongings in bags at the front door.

Along with the bags came a note written on an old receipt, reading “To Caitlin: We don’t love

you anymore but have a lovely time in college.” Now some people may have burst into tears at

this moment, but I didn’t, instead, I felt an overwhelming sense of freedom. I could do whatever

I wanted, I could play my music as loud as I wanted, I could go to a concert whenever I wanted, I

could stay out late, and hang out with my friends whenever I wanted. At this point, the first thing

I thought to do was to call my best friend. She told me her parents did the same thing with her, so

quickly we formed a master plan and decided to go to San Diego because that’s where we were

all going to start college in the fall. We didn’t leave until the morning but she had a car so she

drove us there with two of our other friends as well.

Once upon a time, I knew a smart Fish who taught me a thing or two about life in the real

world. So on the way to San Diego, I began apartment searching on Apartments.com where I

stumbled across a 2 bed, 2 bath, 1,050 sq ft apartment. This would be the perfect place for us
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four to live. Now we each have $5,000 saved and the apartment required and $800 down deposit

so we all evenly split that costing us each $200. The rent for the apartment was $2,930 but would

only be $732.50 each month for all of us. The name of the apartment complex is Diplomat

Apartments in San Diego and is only 2.2 miles away from our college, SDSU. However, our

apartment didn’t have a washer and dryer so we looked on Craigslist and found a pair for only

$200 which we split. Now the next issue I had to face was where am I going to get my money so

I can live my hot girl college life.

Right before graduation I quit my first job at La Cocina Bar & Grill, it was the best job

and I loved everyone there so it was very sad to leave but I found the next best thing, Puesto

Mission Valley. This place has a $$$ rating so I assume I’ll get some great tips from the rich

people. I went in the other day and brought my resume but the manager liked that I had worked

at a Mexican restaurant before so she decided to hire me on the spot. I’m very grateful that I had

working experience before moving out because it has helped me to understand that things aren’t

free and I must work hard for the things I want and need. I then was given my work schedule for

the next two weeks and it showed I will be working Monday-Wednesday and Friday-Sunday,

6-hour weekdays and 8-hour weekends. I will make $25/hour being a server and work 40-hour

weeks so I'll be making $1000/week and after taxes, I will make $2,975 a month. I feel that I am

a hard-working person so I don’t have too much concern about the responsibilities I will be

taking on with work, school, paying bills, and taking care of myself. During high school, I

juggled a lot all at the same time and I survived that so I just have to stay locked in and I’ll make

it. The distance between my work and apartment is 6.4 miles which isn’t too bad. But now, how

will I get around? The answer to that is an E-bike. I found a few on Craigslist being sold from
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some college kid for $700 each and decided it would be perfect for us. Luckily, I was able to

afford it since I had a few thousand saved up. We wouldn’t have to pay for gas, we would charge

it in our apartment, and honestly, it’s way easier to get around San Diego on a bike than in a car.

Speaking of getting around, there is a Ralphs and Starbucks right across the street from where we

live so we can take the E-bikes or even walk to get groceries which is also good for our health. I

have calculated to spend about $175 a month on groceries, including food and hygiene products.

Luckily since there will be four of us in the apartment we can all contribute to what we’ll buy.

Next is school. We all will be going to SDSU and I decided to take morning classes on

Tuesday and Thursday and evening classes on Monday and Wednesday. Unfortunately, college is

really expensive so I've expected to pay around $8,290 per year and decided to do a 10-year

student loan plan. After 4 years of schooling there I will have to pay back $33,160 with an

interest rate of 5%. This leaves me having to pay $352 a month for 10 years. If you thought those

were all of my bills you’d be wrong. Can’t forget about my $50 electric bill, $12.5 internet plan,

$55 phone bill, $4 Netflix subscription, and $4 renters insurance. Now all of these are how much

I have to pay, not the actual total since we're splitting the costs 4 ways. For my phone plan, we

decided to do Verizon’s family plan which is $100 for 4 lines, and then a Spectrum wifi plan for

$50 a month.

After all of my bills, I still have $1,440 per month and with that, I will put half, $720 into

savings for a car. Because I already have $4,050 saved, after 6 months I will have $8,370 which

will be enough to buy a car. It won’t be super nice but as long as it gets me around I will love it.

However, I won’t buy a car until I have more saved up so that I can pay for my gas and insurance

because every little thing has a cost. Since I have moved out the cost of just living has shocked
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me so much because I’ve never had to worry about paying for the things that keep me alive but

now I realize that I can’t shop online and buy clothes whenever I want.

From this project, I have learned a great deal about how living on my own could be and

how expensive everything in life is. It has taught me that I need to be responsible with my

finances and where I spend my money which also means no more daily Starbucks. On the other

hand, it’s also made me feel less scared because now I have a little more knowledge on how to

manage my finances and find a balance between classes and working 40-hour weeks.